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Yankees' Headley thinks Aaron Judge will hit a 550-foot HR

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Chase Headley has seen, he has judged, and he is now a believer.

Like the rest of us, the New York Yankees third baseman has been left amazed by the incredible power his young teammate Aaron Judge has displayed early this season. The most recent example came on Saturday, when Judge stepped to the plate in Pittsburgh and hit a baseball to Philadelphia - OK, that's an exaggeration; it was only the fourth-longest homer hit in baseball this year at 457 feet, with a measly exit velocity of 115.6 mph, according to Statcast.

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

Regardless, Judge's light-tower display of power has the Yankees buzzing at how far he might be able to hit a ball in the future, when he fully develops as a hitter. Headley, for one, thinks his 6-foot-7, 282-pound teammate is capable of hitting bombs that will make us rub our eyes when they eventually land.

"We are all just waiting for that time where everything just syncs up and he gets every bit of it," Headley told Andrew Marchand of ESPN on Tuesday. "I want to see him do that. He is just a humongous human being that has out-of-this-world power. Five-hundred-fifty feet is not out of the question. If there is nothing in the way, he is hitting it 550."

If Judge were to do what Headley claims is possible, it would stand as a monumental achievement in baseball history, as only three homers are known to have traveled longer than 550 feet. Professional baseball's longest verified home run came in the minors on June 2, 1987, when Denver Zephyrs slugger Joey Meyer crushed a 582-foot homer at Mile High Stadium.

MLB's longest long ball is the subject of some debate, but it's widely accepted that Babe Ruth's estimated 575-foot homer on July 18, 1921 at Detroit's Navin Field (later Tiger Stadium) is the record. However, estimates of that blast do vary between 560-600 feet. Mickey Mantle's famous 565-foot shot at Washington's Griffith Stadium in 1953 is also a contender for the mark.

Judge, who comes into Wednesday's action with six homers this year, may have the talent to potentially hit a baseball 550 feet, but he has more modest goals right now. After hitting a 448-foot shot at Yankee Stadium last week, the 25-year-old was left disappointed with not having bested teammate Matt Holliday's 459-foot homer.

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